Stumberg Semi-final Features Electric Motorcycle, Allergy App and More

By Francisco Coronado

Trinity’s 2024 Stumberg Competition semi-final (photo by Francisco Coronado)

Eight student-run startups made it to the semifinal of the 2024 Stumberg Competition, brought by students from a variety of majors and disciplines such as engineering, finance, and chemistry.  

In front of a crowd of supporters, alumni, and intrigued Trinity students, the teams pitched their ideas to a panel of five judges, including CEOs and corporate executives from San Antonio. 

LxR Motors was one of this year’s contestants, aiming to create their very own electric motorcycle that runs on swappable batteries, which provides a public transit that is affordable and environmentally conscious. The startup plans on building their very first prototype here at Trinity University, according to the team.

Nathan Ashworth, a sophomore majoring in business analytics technology, pitched his idea Allergen Life, an app that helps people with food allergy find allergy-free restaurants. The app can be paired with an EpiPen and track its expiration dates.

After hearing all the presentations and deliberating for about 20 minutes, the judges chose five of the eight competing teams for the next stage of the Stumberg Competition, the 10-week Accelerator Program. The five teams were Allergen Life,  FitQuest, SunGuard Shield, Powerlifting Depth Checker, andLxR Motors.

“I think it was a really hard decision for the judges as all the teams had super cool ideas,” said Lindsey Foushee, a junior marketing major and founder of Powerlifting Depth Checker, one of the winning startups. “We plan to use the $5000 to upgrade our product and create some marketing campaigns as well as officially launch our product for sale.”

Rees Allison, a senior engineering major and part of the LxR Motors team, was ecstatic to be chosen. “We were really excited. All that hard work and dreaming paid off.”

Louis Herbert Stumberg Jr, the sponsor of this program, said he was beyond proud of this year’s contestants. “To me, it’s all about the people and vision that they have and our ability to get everything out of them,” he added. 

The accelerator program provides fundings for the winning teams to work throughout the summer to further develop their ideas, meet with marketers, and discuss business logistics with lawyers. They will compete in the fall in the Stumberg Finals to win the $25000 prize.